Tears of relief as evacuated Aussies land in Sydney

“I think they’ve been fantastic – so quickly as well. They haven’t mucked around at all,” he said of DFAT. “It’s fantastic Qatar [Airways] has stepped in.”

His son Michael emerged shortly after saying he could not speak “highly enough” of DFAT’s assistance after the horrific COVID-19 experience of previous years.

“This was the complete opposite [level of] support. And so I’m so grateful to the Australian government for what they’ve been giving us – all the communication the emails, the calls,” he said.

Orna Marks. 40, from the south-west Sydney suburb of Panania, was waiting for her brother, his wife and their three kids.

“I only found out when he was on the train to the airport that they managed to get on a flight,” Ms Marks said.

“I was so relieved. I couldn’t believe it. There are two nephews I haven’t met yet, so I am very excited to met them. I didn’t expect them to be evacuated out so quickly.”

A spokeswoman for Ms King did not answer questions about whether the flight would preclude Qatar Airways from running its regular service to Sydney, given the government’s refusal to grant Qatar Airways a second flight a day into four major airports.

A Qantas A380 flight was set to leave London on Tuesday night and arrive in Sydney – via Dubai – on Wednesday night.

On Tuesday, Qantas’ partner Emirates told media it had offered assistance starting on Thursday, but Qatar Airways chose not to publicise the service and declined to comment after FlightRadar showed QR7424 was en route from Dubai’s second airport Al Maktoum International to Sydney.

The Qatar Airways flight is the first dedicated service flying Australians home from the conflict zone.

Qantas flew its own Dreamliner into Ben Gurion Airport in the Israeli capital on Friday and transported about 230 Australians to London. Other Australians have left the region aboard Etihad commercial flights or been rescued by Canadian defence force flights.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday morning that the government had helped about 700 people leave Israel, just under 600 of whom are Australian. The Qatar flight forms part of these efforts.

Mr Marles said about 45 Australians remain trapped in Gaza.

DFAT arranged bus transport from Ramallah, in the West Bank, to Amman in neighbouring Jordan over the weekend.

The government has worked with various airlines to help Australians leave Israel amid the renewed conflict, sparked by an attack on the country by the terrorist organisation Hamas.

The Qatar Airways flight carried Australians who were evacuated by Royal Australian Air Force flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai. Qatar’s strategic partner Virgin Australia has offered to fly those passengers home to their nearest domestic airport free of charge, according to sources who were not authorised to speak publicly.

Emirates, Qantas’ strategic partner in the region, said it would transport Australians back to Sydney on Thursday. Qantas had planned two flights out of Tel Aviv, but was forced to cancel its second amid safety and insurance concerns as the conflict escalated.

Emirates was one of the last commercial airlines still flying to Tel Aviv, but said over the weekend it has now cancelled flights until October 20.

The assistance from Qatar Airways comes amid debate over Ms King’s decision to reject the airline’s bid to boost its international flight capacity into east coast airports and Perth.

A spokesman for Qatar Airways declined to comment.